Kim Picks North Korean Successor

Of course, it stays in the family. The surprise is that he chose his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, who is age 26.

Kim Jong-un is the third son of Kim Jong Il, the "Dear Leader" who suffered a stroke last summer and who has since appeared thin and frail. He is the grandson of the late Kim Il Sung, the "Great Leader" and founding dictator of North Korea.

If Kim Jong-un does become the new leader -- and there are analysts who doubt the decision is final -- this second consecutive father-to-son hand off would be unique among nations that call themselves communist. There was no indication, however, that Kim Jong Il would be handing over power any time soon.

Kim Jong-un attended the International School of Berne, which is about 15 minutes outside the Swiss capital and a few hundred yards from the North Korean embassy. While Kim was at the English-language school, which has about 280 students from 40 countries, he befriended the children of American diplomats and learned French and German, according to the Swiss weekly, L'Hebdo.

The North Korean regime may practice communism, but it is a totalitarian dictatorship. It is also a cult of personality, where all power is centered on the leader. Kim Il Sung founded this regime, and modeled it after his own personality, accumulating the power and his word was final. When he died, his son assumed the mantle, and Kim Jong Il has ruled with an iron fist ever since, and has greatly expanded the regime's military capabilities, including missile technologies and nuclear technologies. That came at a terrible price, as the country has been repeatedly hit with famine and an inability to feed itself or provide power for its inhabitants.

While Jong may have had the Western influences, it remains to be seen whether he carries on his family's disastrous legacy or charts a new path. Even more important, it remains to be seen whether the military follows along with Kim's wishes and allows his son to take power.

I suspect that the past few weeks of missile tests and nuclear test were a way to prepare the diplomatic front for the new leadership. By repeatedly testing the West and the US in specific, North Korea was trying to see what it could get away with without incurring any actual penalties. Claiming the 1953 armistice was at an end is further evidence that the regime wants to see what it can get away with.

RIP: Alexander Solzhenitsyn at Age 89

The chronicler of the Soviet gulag archipelago, Alexander Solzhenitsyn died at the age of 89. He died of heart failure according to his son.

I can recall reading his book, "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich," and reading with anger and furiousness at the capricious nature of the Soviet Union and the Communist apparatchiks. Specifically, I can recall a passage where he talked about writing using nothing more than frozen feces because there was nothing else to use.

Millions were murdered in the slave labor camps scattered throughout the Soviet Union's vast Siberian gulag archipelago. Millions more were broken and left a mere shell of their former selves all because they did not obey the diktats of the Soviets.

I find it entertaining to read about how the New York Times notes that Solzhenitsyn was able to erase lingering sympathy for the Soviets among leftist intellectuals, especially in Europe, given that the Times and the same intellectuals are attempting to pursue hard leftist policies in the name of the greater good.

No greater good can come from government control over all aspects of society and the personal life, and yet that is what is proposed by some, including Obama, Gore, and Pelosi. When one talks about how you must control your carbon emissions and the government will set limits on what you can or cannot eat, it begins the slow slouching toward socialism and no good can come from that.

UPDATE - goofed on the age in the header - fixed.

Window Dressing

That's what Raul Castro is doing - playing with the window dressings - while his supporters point to these tweaks as the sign that Cuba is moving away from the Communist system that has decimated the country since Fidel took power with an iron fist in 1959.

The media made a big deal of Castro's pronouncements that he'll allow average Cubans access to the hotels meant for foreigners, plus giving them the right to own cellphones and DVD players.

Big deal.

The average Cuban, who works for the government and is paid an average of $19.50 a month, can't afford to buy a cellphone, let alone a DVD player. They don't make enough, and often rely on relatives living in the states to supplement their incomes to make ends meet. What would take an American making minimum wage several hours to buy a low end DVD player, would take a Cuban five months. It would take two years for a Cuban to afford a microwave oven.

In other words, Raul's given Cubans the freedom to buy basic items that they could never afford.

Raul Castro is simply making a show of changes, but the real change will come when Cuba's political prisoners are freed from jail for doing nothing more than criticizing the Communist regime in Havana.

No Official Word

I see that the rumors are still out there about Castro's oxygen intake reduction and his contributions to reducing global warming emissions by holding his breath permanently. However, the only proof will be when the Cuban government officially admits the old gray thug is on a slab.

Look, the longer the Cuban communists say that Fidel's okay, but without actually presenting him in public to show that he is indeed alive, shows just how thuggish the regime is, how it controls the flow of information and media, and is not an open government at all. They must know that if Fidel dies, their ability to control the Cuban people goes down significantly because he cultivated a cult of personality that no one else in the government even begins to approach. So, they persist in keeping Castro (or news of his death or incapacitation) from the Cuban people.

They also know that if the expat community keeps spreading these rumors and the Cuban government doesn't admit that he's indeed dead, the communists think that they're scoring points by exposing the expats to ridicule over their incessant rumors.

UPDATE:
Perez Hilton stands by his statements that Castro is dead based on his sources. He also says that Cuba better put up or shut up and admit that Castro is dead. No videos or photos are acceptable. He wants to see Castro paraded about in public. I have news for Perez: Not.Gonna.Happen.

The communists wont do that until they're good and ready to admit that Castro is dead - even if it's months after the fact. Fausta notes that the cult of personality is like a house of cards - and if Castro is dead, the communists' hold on the country will slip. I'm not sure how fast that might happen, but it would be an extraordinary opportunity for the Cuban people.

Others blogging: Outside the Beltway, Blue Crab Boulevard (and here) , Hot Air, Sister Toldjah, Stop the ACLU, and Poliblogger.

Friday Fidel Dead Rumor Mill?

Val at Babalu is about ready to uncork the champagne and light up a nice hearty stogy as he thinks that the Cuban communistas are about to announce that Fidel has had his one way ticket to hell punched.

This doesn't appear to be the usual weekly Fidel dead rumors.

My cellphone has not stopped ringing for the past ten minutes. Various sources inform that an announcement will come within the next few minutes from the Cuban government on Cuban TV and media. Stay tuned and we'll see if we've been manipulated once again or if today is the birth date of Cuba's liberty.

Update: Here's the deal and what I know up to now, as of 1500 hours, August 24, 2007:

First, South Florida Law Enforcement is on alert. An EOC (Emergency Operations Center) has been set-up and manned somewhere in Homestead.

Im also told Local and State government agencies have food, bottled water, and other necessities - valued in the millions - stored and/or staged in Homestead at or near the EOC.

I am presently verifying whether Coast Guard and DHS and Border Patrol agencies are on high alert. (Verified 01445)

Local News stations are abuzz, mostly on reports very much like the above, with massive law enforcemnt mobilizations throughout Dade county.

If this does indeed pan out, it is a great day for the Cuban community, though the long term effects for those Cubans living under the crushing heel of the Communists in Cuba isn't going to change all that much because the Communists have been handling the day to day matters for nearly a year without Fidel's active involvment.

Cuba's foreign minister said that rumors of Fidel's waning health are untrue, in a news report from several hours ago.

There's also the possibility that the Communists are playing on everyone's hopes that Castro is indeed dead, only to trot him out for all the world to see.

Preferably, I like to see the Weekend at Bernie's version, but because the Cuban government controls the media, they are calling the shots and solid information is difficult to come by.

Hot Air has more, and also relates some of the same concerns I have.

UPDATE:
The following photo is bogus as I discovered when I first posted it, but it is one that many Cubans and freedom loving folks would love to have come to pass. Castro's evil rule over Cuba has doomed generations of Cubans to live under the heel of a totalitarian dictator.

The Castro Dead Pool Warms Up?

Rumors are once again circulating with some vigor that the bearded one, Fidel Castro, has slipped the surly bonds and has embraced the comforting glow of Hell where he rejoins Che Guevera and will spend eternity dealing with his crimes against humanity and the Cuban people.

These rumors are unconfirmed, and unless the Cuban government says that Castro has indeed died, there's no way to confirm anything. The Cuban communists are like that. They control the press and the flow of information. So, if there's something happening in Cuba relating to Castro's health, the Cubans wont let anyone know until they're good and ready to let everyone else know.

That's not to say that one can't be happy about the prospective news - Castro is going to die eventually, and these rumors certainly bring a smile to the faces of those who have suffered greatly at his hands or have watched their countrymen suffer.

Repeat Performance

"Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends..." So begins the famous song Karn 9 Evil by Emerson, Lake and Palmer. For some, the show that never ends is the continuing assault on free speech all in the name of fairness.

The leftist dream to reassert the Fairness Doctrine on the media continues to percolate among the left because conservative shows dominate the airwaves of talk radio. They would love to get their grubbies on all forms of media, in the claims that some groups - those they oppose - have a better ability to find an audience than their own point of view.

To them, the market forces be damned. The concept of the Fairness Doctrine cuts hard against the heart of capitalism and free speech. It determines who can say what and in what forums and the government gets to arbiter the content, instead of the free market. It would save progressive radio stations like Air America from oblivion, while limiting successful right wing talk radio/syndicated shows out of "fairness."

That's neither fair nor a legitimate use of government power to save leftists from their own failures to capture audience on talk radio.

It's May Day: Do You Know Where Your Communist Thugs Are?

[T]hugo Chavez is busy pulling Venezuela out of the IMF and the World Bank, while trying to pull the rug out from under the oil companies that are still operating inside the country.

Fidel Castro is still a no show. You'll just have to settle for Raul instead. And to think Chavez and others have repeatedly stated that Fidel was getting better.

Here in the US, we're going to have another round of illegal alien marching around the country and other related events. The sponsors of such events? The leftists, communists and socialists that have destroyed the lives of millions around the world and have no problem doing the same to the US.

From Bread Basket to Basket Case

1700% inflation. Reflect on the enormity of that number for a moment. Folks in the United States worry when the inflation rate creeps to 3%.

Zimbabwe has an inflation rate of 1700%. You can't print paper fast enough to cover the price spikes.

The United Nations estimates there are now more than three million Zimbabwe exiles in South Africa alone. That's about one-fourth of Zimbabwe's population. Many more have fled to Europe, Australia, the United States and Canada.

What Zimbabweans are leaving behind is a country spiraling out of control. Inflation is the highest in the world -- at more than 1,700 percent. The country's currency -- the Zimbabwe dollar -- is being printed so fast that Morgan Tsvangirai, the country's opposition leader, declared, "Zimbabwe is the only nation in the world where millionaires go to bed hungry."

Eight out of 10 Zimbabweans are out of work, according to the CIA fact book, which profiles the countries of the world. Many can't afford to send their children to school and life expectancy due to the onslaught of HIV-AIDS, as well as the current economic woes, is among the lowest in the world. (Read about Zimbabweans so desperate for food they eat rats)

Add to all this what happened just weeks ago: the battered, bruised and bloodied images of opposition members who'd been savagely attacked while in police custody.

Mugabe had managed with this single incident to turn his splintering opposition into global heroes. Whatever Mugabe's intentions had been, these pictures, Africa watchers say, had shown a gross miscalculation on his part and a possible sign he may be starting to lose his grip.

All that is left in the wake is death, misery, and a failed economic policy that is sadly repeated ad nasuem by know-nothings who think that socialist policies will improve the economies and lives of countries around the world.

Thank you Mugabe for once again highlighting your incompetence.

Of course, [T]hugo Chavez will see your problems and believe that he can enact the same measures you did, but will not end up with a basket case of an economy because he'll do it with more vigor and with blinders on. Such is always the way with leftists.

Italy's Leftists Oppose US Efforts In Afghanistan

That's not a typo. Italy's leftists aren't just opposing US efforts in Iraq, but Afghanistan as well:

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi's government was "inclined to" present its resignation to the president after a major defeat in a Senate vote on foreign policy on Wednesday, a centre-left political source said.

"Prodi has called a cabinet meeting. (They are) inclined to present their resignation to the head of state who will then decide," the source said.

Divided over the Afghan war and ties with the U.S. military, Prodi's centre-left government was unable to secure enough votes for a parliamentary motion backing Rome's foreign policy.

The leftists have succeeded in taking down the center-left government that took over from an even more pro-American government, led by Silvio Berlusconi. The Left is quite explicit in what they want and oppose the US even taking action in Afghanistan, let alone Iraq.

Expect to see this pattern emerge elsewhere in the world. We've even seen the veil slip some here among the Left in the US, where some Democrats have voiced opposition to the US operations in Afghanistan, let alone US involvment in Iraq.

Thugocracy Economics 101

Exhibit A:

Zimbabwe's hyperinflation. Mankiw cites this New York Times article, which reports:

Indeed, Zimbabwe’s economic descent has picked up so much speed that President Robert G. Mugabe, the nation’s leader for 27 years, is starting to lose support from parts of his own party.

In recent weeks, the national power authority has warned of a collapse of electrical service. A breakdown in water treatment has set off a new outbreak of cholera in the capital, Harare. All public services were cut off in Marondera, a regional capital of 50,000 in eastern Zimbabwe, after the city ran out of money to fix broken equipment. In Chitungwiza, just south of Harare, electricity is supplied only four days a week.

The government awarded all civil servants a 300 percent raise two weeks ago. But the increase is only a fraction of the inflation rate, so the nation’s 110,000 teachers are staging a work slowdown for more money. Measured by the black-market value of Zimbabwe’s ragtag currency, even their new salaries total less than 60 American dollars a month.

Exhibit B:
Venezuela is starting to get a taste of communism, Chavez style. It's only a matter of time before the bread lines form up.

Meat cuts vanished from Venezuelan supermarkets this week, leaving only unsavory bits like chicken feet, while costly artificial sweeteners have increasingly replaced sugar, and many staples sell far above government-fixed prices.

President Hugo Chavez's administration blames the food supply problems on unscrupulous speculators, but industry officials say government price controls that strangle profits are responsible. Authorities on Wednesday raided a warehouse in Caracas and seized seven tons of sugar hoarded by vendors unwilling to market the inventory at the official price.

Major private supermarkets suspended sales of beef earlier this week after one chain was shut down for 48 hours for pricing meat above government-set levels, but an agreement reached with the government on Wednesday night promises to return meat to empty refrigerator shelves.

As Jammie Wearing Fool points out, [T]hugo Chavez has a mess on his hands, and is only making matters worse.

Castro Is NOT Dead -- All of Miami Weeps!

HAVANA, Jan. 31, 2007 — A video of Fidel Castro aired by state television Tuesday evening has bolstered claims by officials and a Spanish doctor that the ailing Cuban president is not at death's door but on the mend.

The 80-year-old Castro, who temporarily handed power to his younger brother and defense minister, Raul Castro, six months ago to undergo abdominal surgery, appeared stronger than in a previous video aired three months ago. He also has put on weight.

The five-minute video showed Castro in a red, white and blue track suit standing, sitting, sipping juice and talking animatedly with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during an unannounced visit to Havana on Monday.


Months of Rumors

Castro's illness and whereabouts have been a carefully guarded secret, spawning nonstop rumors and speculation over the condition of the historic, if controversial, bearded figure.

"He is in good condition. Within the confines of doctor-patient privilege, I can say President Castro is not suffering from a malignant condition," Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, head of surgery at Madrid's Gregorio Maranon public hospital, told a news conference in December after examining Castro.

"He does not have cancer," Sabrido said. "He has a problem with his digestive system. … And has suffered complications."

However, the Spanish newspaper El Pais, citing sources at Sabrido's hospital, reported earlier this month that three botched operations had left Castro suffering from the deterioration of his large intestine. It was reported that Castro was in grave condition and being fed intravenously, a claim Sabrido denied.

Tuesday's five-minute video was carefully edited from what was reported to be a two-hour meeting with Chavez, Castro's closest ally and designated Latin American revolutionary successor.

"Fidel has said that we have not lost this battle," Chavez said in the video. "I'll say something more: We have won it."

I know some Cuban Americans who will be very disappointed to learn that Fidel is still alive.

However, as I know from experience with grandparents that age, you can pick out 5 minutes of a day where they look strong and the rest of the day appear weak. The man is 80 years old, and will not live forever.

The real question, is Cuba better off with his brother? Raul will not change Cuba into a democracy. He is committed to Communism, as is his brother. America will not normalize relations with Cuba if Raul is in charge. Also, what is the influence of Chavez over the Castros? Will Chavez dominate Raul? Will Cuba become a puppet for the emerging communist state in Venezuela? Will the Cuban Counsel of State (who selects the President and First Vice President) select a non-Castro...unlikely. Can real change in Cuba occure if either brother is alive?

We've Been Down This Road Before

Emboldened by his landslide re-election win, the typically combative anti-U.S. leader has gone on the attack, deciding to strip a private opposition TV channel of its license and take over some major companies owned by foreign investors.

"Fatherland, socialism or death -- I take the oath," Chavez said.

The man who calls Cuban President Fidel Castro his mentor changed tradition by draping the presidential sash from his left shoulder instead of his right in what he says is a symbol of his socialist credentials.

Legislators at the ceremony in Congress chanted "Long live socialism."

Investors took fright this week at the leftist drive that further consolidates power in the hands of a former coup leader who already controls Congress, the courts and says he has total support in the army and the giant state oil company.

(T)Hugo Chavez is trying his best to do an impression of Castro and other dictators who have either corrupted democratic governments by imposing changes that eliminate the democratic nature of the government or usurped power from democratic governments. In this instance, he's calling for the repeal of term limits on the Presidency, which would give him the opportunity to be President for life. Combine this with his push to eliminate any potential political rivals from within his own political circle and you've got a cult of Chavez emerging that puts him one step closer to being a dictator.

Chavez is also working hard to turn Venezuela's economy into a Cuban basketcase. In other words, Chavez thinks that the Cuban economic model is worthy of being repeated. We've all seen what wonders that has done for the Cuban people, and the move to nationalize various industries is not only sending foreign investors running from the country, but will cause the Venezuelan standard of living to drop. Fausta also comments on Chavez's attempts to resurrect the failed communist economic model. The Washington Post editorializes that those threatened most by Chavez's policies aren't going to be the Americans, but the millions of Venezuelans who will suffer from his economic policies.

Some will see in Mr. Chavez's actions a threat to U.S. interests. Certainly, those who caution that it is unwise to count on Venezuela to continue supplying up to 15 percent of U.S. oil imports have a point. If assets of U.S. companies are seized without fair compensation, Venezuela should be subject to penalties. But the main threat posed by Mr. Chavez is to Venezuela's 26 million people. If he follows through on his threats, they can look forward to steadily diminishing freedom and -- if the history of socialism is any guide -- national impoverishment.

Technorati: Fidel Castro, Castro, Fidel, Raul, Cuba.

Gerald R. Ford: 1913 - 2006

With the passing of Gerald Ford, I wonder what most people will focus upon. Many will inevitably focus on the aftermath of Watergate culminating with the pardon of Nixon and how he uttered the famous phrase "our long national nightmare is over" upon assuming the Presidency. Many still associate Ford with the SNL skits of him as a clumsy oaf and which Ford took with good grace.

While others will inevitably focus on President Ford's ascension to the Office of the President, becoming the only person to become President without having been elected in a nationwide election, the fallout from the Watergate scandal that brought down the Presidency of Richard Nixon (and the subsequent pardon), or even his athletic achievements at the University of Michigan, there is much to be learned about one aspect of his Presidency that is highly relevant to the nation and the world today.

I for one am looking at whether he could have done more to help South Vietnam avoid being overrun by the Communist North and which set about a chain reaction of human rights atrocities and depravities throughout Southeast Asia. I'm also wondering what lessons that particular chapter of history can be applied to the current situation in the world. It's a cautionary tale of what we must avoid doing in Iraq.

Ford was unable to stop Congress from cutting the pursestrings to the South Vietnamese government. That fateful decision set in motion the indeliable image of the last chopper out of Saigon before the fall of South Vietnam to the Communist North Vietnamese. It also set in motion the Killing Fields where millions perished in Southeast Asia. The Times notes:

He resented the accident of fate that had made him president as the nation watched South Vietnam and Cambodia — where so much of America’s human and economic treasure had been spent by three predecessors — fall to the Communists in 1975. Rebuffed by Congress when he sought a last-minute $972 million in aid to Saigon, Mr. Ford made it possible for 130,000 or more refugees to come to the United States.

When the Cambodian Communists seized the American merchant ship Mayaqüez in May 1975, Mr. Ford reacted with uncharacteristic emotion, sending United States military forces to recapture the ship.

The order was motivated in part by concern for national image. “We had just pulled out of Vietnam, out of Cambodia,” Mr. Ford said later, “and here the United States was being challenged by a group of leaders who were bandits and outlaws, in my opinion, and I think their subsequent record has pretty well proved it. And it was an emotional decision to tell the Defense Department we had to go in there and do something.”

Do we as a nation have an obligation to prevent far greater human rights disasters than what some believe is currently going on in Iraq or must we leave the field of battle in Iraq before the job is done and an Iraqi government can stand against ruthless enemies at its doorstep? This isn't simply addressing the issue of whether "we broke it so we bought it" but whether the nation has obligations that go beyond stationing troops in Iraq to deal with the insurgent threat or the terror threat to ensuring that we do not repeat the mistakes made in the Vietnam experience.

For should the US leave now, the potential for bloodshed on a scale rivaling that of the South Vietnamese/Cambodian Killing Fields is quite likely and the Iranians and Syrians would both seek to exert tremendous influence over the outcome. Turkey meanwhile would try to keep the Kurds in Iraq from forming their own country, giving the Kurds within Turkey their own ideas of forming a country with the Iraqi Kurds.

Then, there's the message that was sent around the world that showed that the US lost and that its power was limited giving rogue nations and nascent terror groups hope to outlast the US in a protracted conflict. On the heels of the evacuation from Vietnam, the Cambodians captured the Mayaqüez and President Ford recognized that the US had to act decisively. Ford noted that the inability or refusal to free the Mayaqüez would send the wrong messages to the enemies of the US who would take advantage of the situation, much to the detriment to the US strategic interests around the world.

President Bush and Vice President Cheney each issued statements reflecting on the passing of the 38th President. Funeral plans are provided.

Michelle Malkin notes that Ford's short tenure as President was marked by two assassination attempts.

Don Surber adds his two cents and offers up a lesson for the current Administration - not to run away from the war and its obligations.

To see those who are blogging, check out memeorandum and technorati.

UPDATE:
Pajamas Media has a huge roundup. Rick Moran weighs in with a personal encounter with Ford. Sundries Shack thinks Ford should be the template of what a good President should be. Crooks and Liars wonders whether the pardon issue may come back to haunt another President and future Administrations.

Others weighing in with their views on the Ford Presidency and his legacy: Blue Crab Boulevard, Macranger, Dan Riehl, Instapundit, Gina Cobb, Outside the Beltway, AJ Strata, Wizbang, Tigerhawk, Thunder Run, Dean Esmay, Jules Crittenden, John Cole, The Moderate Voice, and Talk Left.

UPDATE:
President Ford will be given a full state funeral and includes a special tribute to his long service to the nation in Congress:

Gerald R. Ford will be mourned in the rare and solemn spectacle of a state funeral crafted to honor his reverence for Congress, the institution that launched him to the presidency. Ceremonies begin Friday in a California church, and end five days later with Ford's entombment on a hillside near his Grand Rapids, Mich., presidential museum.

In between, according to funeral details announced Wednesday, Ford's body will lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda, offering both dignitaries and the public a chance to pay final respects to the former Michigan congressman who rose to the White House in the collapse of Richard Nixon's presidency.

And in a departure from tradition meant to highlight his long congressional service, Ford's remains will also lie in repose outside the doors of both the House and the Senate for short periods.

Technorati: gerald ford, ford, nixon, watergate, vietnam, carter, reagan, politics, gop.

Saddam Takes "Credit" For Gassing Iranians...

... but denies that he gave the order to gas Kurds and Shi'ites inside Iraq:

Saddam Hussein said on Monday he would take responsibility "with honor" for any attacks on Iran using conventional or chemical weapons during the 1980-1988 war but he took issue with charges he ordered attacks on Iraqis.

The former president and six others are on trial for the Anfal -- Spoils of War -- military campaign against ethnic Kurds in northern Iraq in the 1980s in which prosecutors say up to 180,000 people were killed in gas attacks and mass executions.

"In relation to Iran, if any military or civil official claims that Saddam gave orders to use either conventional or special ammunition, which as explained is chemical, I will take responsibility with honor," Saddam told the court.

But he added: "I will discuss any act committed against our people and any Iraqi citizen, whether Arab or Kurdish. I don't accept any insult to my principles or to me personally."

Lawyers for Saddam, who faces the charge of genocide, have argued that Anfal was a legitimate military operation against Kurdish militias who sided with Iran in the war.

Even if Anfal was a legitimate military operation against Kurdish militias, the use of chemical weapons violated the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. Iraq became a party to the Convention in 1931. Saddam and the Iraqi military utilized the euphemism "special munitions" to describe the use of chemical weapons, and there is documentation showing that the use of chemical weapons was thoroughly discussed with Saddam's knowledge:

The first document was a 1987 memo from Iraq's military intelligence seeking permission from the president's office to use mustard gas and the nerve agent sarin against Kurds.

A second document said in reply that Saddam had ordered military intelligence to study the possibility of a "sudden strike" using such weapons against Iranian and Kurdish forces.

An internal memo written by military intelligence confirmed it had received approval from the president's office for a strike using "special ammunition" and emphasized that no strike would be launched without first informing the president.

Among several more documents was one from the Army Chief of Staff reporting that an airstrike with special ammunition killed 31 Kurdish fighters and "communist agents" near Dohuk.

The Passing of Jeane Kirkpatrick

Her death was announced Friday at the senior staff meeting of the U.S. mission to the United Nations. Spokesman Richard Grenell said that Ambassador John Bolton asked for a moment of silence.

A death announcement is also posted on the Web site of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-oriented think tank here where she was a senior fellow.

Kirkpatrick's assistant, Andrea Harrington, said that she died in her sleep at home in Bethesda, Maryland. The cause of death was not immediately announced.

Kirkpatrick was a staunch defender of US interests at the United Nations and was excoriated by those who thought that the Ambassador should represent UN interests in the US (a position that John Bolton knows quite intimately).

Michelle Malkin has more.

UPDATE:
Others weighing in on the death of Jeane Kirkpatrick and her legacy:
Babalu Blog notes the passing of another lion. It Shines For All notes her role as a staunch defender of the US during the Cold War

Right Voices and Instapinch also weigh in.

UPDATE:
Blogs of War has a huge update of reaction, and of special note is how the left side of the 'sphere is reacting. Utter hatred and disdain dripping from every word. Figures.

Hang Right Politics notes that Kirkpatrick may have once been a Democrat, then a Republican, but was always a staunch anti-Communist. We need a lot more people like that - ones who can recognize the threats to the West and aren't afraid to speak out about them regardless of which side of the aisle they reside. There are all too few of those types these days.

Charles at LGF, Hot Air, Failed Messiah, Below the Beltway, Atlas Shrugs Anchor Rising, The Political PitBull, also weigh in.

ISG Report Runs Counter To Military Assessment

Count me among those who aren't surprised at all by the fact that members of the military find the Iraq Study Group recommendations run counter to their experience and own assessments.

Military experts say there are several difficulties with the panel’s recommendation. First, it underestimates the challenge of building a capable Iraqi security force. After several years of desultory efforts, the United States has taken steps to upgrade and better prepare the teams of American advisers who are assigned to Iraqi units. But training the Iraqi Army is more than a matter of teaching combat skills. It requires transforming the character of the force.

“The new Iraqi Army will need years to become equal to the challenge posed by a persistent insurgency and terrorist threat,” Lt. Col. Carl D. Grunow, a former military adviser, wrote in a recent issue of Military Review, a journal published by the United States Army.

One big problem, Colonel Grunow notes, is that the Iraqi military is not proficient in counterinsurgency operations or sufficiently sensitive to the risk of civilian casualties.

“They are still fighting their last war, the high-intensity Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, a war with clear battle lines fought with mass military formations, and one in which civilians on the battlefield were a nuisance, and not a center of gravity,” he wrote. The Iraqi military, he added, “must learn to fight using strategies and tactics far different than those used in the past.”

One could expand this to note that the Left in this nation is fighting the war in Iraq as though it is Vietnam, though the consequences of failure will be just as devastating as cutting and running from Vietnam (more than 2 million killed, millions more displaced, and harsh imposition of Communist policies that only 30+ years later are being reversed).

The ISG lacked military input, despite having some military advisors providing some input. There were no generals in the group, which was dominated by diplomat and lawyer types. The document they produced was a diplomatic paper, which could provide political cover, and even there it falls short considering that it manages to piss off the Iraqis who are trying to get things straightened out under fire.

Another problem is that withdrawing troops could accelerate attacks - a feedback loop between attacks and US withdrawals, resulting in the terrorists and insurgents achieving a victory without having conquered the field of battle. The media and political dimensions of this conflict have been seriously distorted. The consequences of failure are not sufficiently tangible for people to recognize what would happen.

Yet, the ISG does not provide a template for victory. Indeed, the document doesn't even mention the term victory. That's curious in and of itself.

The situation remains quite fluid and the media has done a poor job reporting on successes and changes in the situation - including in the restive Anbar province.

Meanwhile, the media continues to refer to the ISG as a realist manifesto, which is utter bunk. This is not realism, but a psuedorealism that does not take into account the Iranian and Syrian endgames. Nor does it deal with the fact that negotiations will not deter either nation's designs for Iraq or the region at large.

Further, McCain and Giuliani both dispute the need to link the Iraq situation with the Palestinian-Israeli conflicts. They are separate and should not be linked unless you are willing to concede that the state sponsors of terrorism - Syria and Iran must be held to account for their trechery and their leaders deposed because of the violence spawned by their terror proxies. Since the ISG report has no intention of inflicting punishment on those who actually oppose the US and threaten US interests and those of our allies, it should be a nonstarter.

UPDATE:
These are the members of the ISG - not a general among them: James A. Baker, III, and Lee H. Hamilton, Co-Chairs, Lawrence S. Eagleburger, Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Edwin Meese III, Sandra Day O’Connor, Leon E. Panetta, William J. Perry, Charles S. Robb, Alan K. Simpson. Former senators, a former supreme court justice, and a former secretary of defense. That's the closest you get to someone with military experience in the bunch. That is wholly inadequate and insufficient if you are trying to deduce a strategy to win the conflict in Iraq. This is why so many on the right would say that this is a document designed to cut and run gracefully or that it is a complete nonstarter because so many of the recommendations are predicated upon negotiating with the very entities that are the cause of so much of the violence in the region and who have no reason to fear the consequences a US response to their actions.

UPDATE:
As if to reinforce my point about the uselessness of the ISG report for anything other than for Democrat and terrorist talking points, TF Boggs offers up his view from Mosul (that's in Iraq and yes, he's military):

We cannot appease our enemies and we cannot continue to cut and run when the going gets tough. As it stands in the world right now our enemies view America as a country full of queasy people who are inclined to cut and run when things take a turn for the worse. Just as the Tet Offensive was the victory that led to our failure in Vietnam our victories in Iraq now are leading to our failure in the Middle East. How many more times must we fight to fail? I feel like all of my efforts (30 months of deployment time) and the efforts of all my brothers in arms are all for naught. I thought old people were supposed to be more patient than a 24 year old but apparently I have more patience for our victory to unfold in Iraq than 99.9 percent of Americans. Iraq isn’t fast food-you can’t have what you want and have it now. To completely change a country for the first time in it’s entire history takes time, and when I say time I don’t mean 4 years.

Confederate Yankee distills the point further: Either you kill the terrorists or you appease them. The ISG manages to claim to do both, but in reality pushes us closer to the latter through negotiating with the very regimes that sponsor the terrorism in the first place.

The New York Post doesn't mince words either. They call the ISG report and Baker/Hamilton nothing more than surrender monkeys. "Peace with honor" and all that crap is nothing more than putting a cheery slogan on a defeat for want of willpower to see a difficult task through to completion. The Post's lede sums things up:

The Iraq Study Group report delivered to President Bush yesterday contains 79 separate recommendations - but not one that explains how American forces can defeat the terrorist insurgents, only ways to bring the troops home.

Donald Sensing takes a closer look at the Baker/Hamilton presser and notes that their desire to produce a uninamous report shows a lack of critical thinking and that the report is riddled with contradictions, not the least of which is that Baker is simply trying to resuscitate his old Middle East plans, which worked out so well the last time. The same problems are there, and Israel is in as bad or worse a position as it was then. Meanwhile, one of the critical assumption of the report - linking the Israel situation to Iraq is demonstrably false because if the situation in Israel suddenly disappeared (Israel destroyed and Palestinians running the show) the situation in Iraq would not change one iota - except that it might actually be worse as the jihadis would be emboldened to take even more harsh action than they are currently.

Ralph Peters also takes the ISG to task for not getting the motivations of those that are causing the violence and what withdrawing would mean. Lorie Byrd comments on the President's presser with British PM Tony Blair. She notes:

President said the violence in Iraq is not by accident or the result of faulty planning, but rather is a deliberate strategy of those in Iraq wishing to gain control by creating chaos.

Who is supporting those creating the chaos in Iraq? Syria and Iran.

For those who lambasted Rumsfeld and were happy to see him dispatched, here's an analysis that shows Rumsfeld to have been proven quite right on a number of fundamental issues and here (via Instapundit).

Also blogging: Wizbang, JammieWearingFool, Don Surber (and here), Wake Up America, and Flopping Aces.



Technorati: iraq, isg, iraq study group, bush, baker, terrorism.

Assassination in Lebanon

Lebanese Christian minister Pierre Gemayel, an outspoken critic of Syria, was assassinated near Beirut on Tuesday, security sources said.

They said gunmen opened fire as his convoy drove through the Christian Sin el-Fil neighborhood. Gemayel was rushed to hospital where he later died of his wounds.

Gemayel, a member of the Christian Phalange Party and industry minister, was the son of former President Amin Gemayel.

He was an opponent of the influence in Lebanon of Syria, who many Lebanese blame for the February 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

The list of who might have been behind the assassination is pretty short: Syria, Syrian supporters, and Hizbullah. All three groups are not above assassinating members of the opposition. Count on them to stonewall and deter investigations from proceeding.

Here's a rundown of those assassinated in since Rafik Hariri was assassinated in February 2005:

Feb. 14 - Former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri and 22 others are killed by truck bomb in Beirut. Top aide former economy minister and legislator Basil Fuleihan badly burnt in attack and dies in hospital two months later.

June 2 - Samir Kassir, journalist opposed to Syria's role in Lebanon, is killed in Beirut by bomb in his car.

June 21 - Former Communist Party leader and critic of Syria George Hawi is killed in Beirut by bomb in his car.

July 12 - Car bomb wounds caretaker Defence Minister Elias al-Murr and kills one person in Christian area north of Beirut.

Sept. 25 - May Chidiac, a Christian television journalist critical of Syria, is seriously wounded by bomb in her car. Dec. 12 - Gebran Tueni, staunchly anti-Syrian member of parliament and Lebanese newspaper magnate is killed by a car bomb in Beirut. An unknown group, "Strugglers for the Unity and Freedom of the Levant", claims responsibility.

Feb. 14, 2006 - At least half a million Lebanese pack central Beirut, a year after the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

Nov. 21 - Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel is killed by gunmen as his convoy drives through the Christian Sin el-Fil neighbourhood of Beirut.

The NYT subheading says that the assassination will increase political tensions in Lebanon. There's a bit of understatement for you. This is how the opponents of democracy operate. They assassinate their enemies and use fear and intimidation to get their way.

Hizbullah continues to control South Lebanon (aka Hizbullahland). The UN and UNIFIL refuse to adhere to the UN SCRs that require the disarmament of all militias operating in Lebanon - including Hizbullah. The Lebanese military cannot and does not want to get into a conflict with Hizbullah, so everyone proceeds as though no one notices the 800 pound gorilla in the room. Hizbullah is yanking the chain in the Lebanese government, but Syria and Iran both loom in the background calling the shots.

UPDATE:
Hot Air has more, including how Gemayel was shot at point blank range after his car was rammed by the assassin's vehicle. Allah thinks that if it were the Syrians or Hizbullah, it would be the height of stupidity with Hizbullah's demonstrations scheduled to take place in two days and a flurry of diplomatic activity in Damascus between Syria, Iraq, and Iran. I'd argue that Syria simply sees assassination as an extension of its diplomatic posturing in Lebanon. After all, they could claim it wasn't them, and that if Syria returns to dominance in Lebanon, it could impose security better than the Lebanese could.

Sister Toldjah also comments.

UPDATE:
Here's a photo of the scene:


UPDATE:
This all comes on the heels of an op-ed by Michael Young calling for the world holding Syria responsible and accountable for their assassination of Rafik Hariri.

UPDATE:
Still others commenting on the assassination and its implications on the Lebanese political situation:
Rick Moran, who notes that while Hizbullah and Syria both condemn the assassination, they doth protest too much. This has the hallmarks of their handiwork. However, he wonders whether they miscalculated. Possible, but I don't think they care. Who exactly would stop them?

Michelle Malkin has a roundup, including reports from the Lebanese Daily Star and Pajamas Media. PJ Media notes that there were three gunmen, not one.

Free Cedar fears for Lebanon's future. So do I. The barbarians are inside the gates as Hizbullah and Syria are both seeking dominion over Lebanon, and Hizbullah has the edge because they not only have the military force to control Lebanon, but have dominion over South Lebanon despite the UNIFIL operation.

From Beirut to the Beltway is reporting large demonstrations forming.

This situation is going to be rapidly changing so stay tuned.

Lebanon an Irish Experience has quotes from leading Lebanese politicians. Of note is Saad Hariri, who "...interrupted a press conference to accuse the Syrian regime of "trying to kill every free person" in Lebanon." Well, Syria doesn't have to kill every free person, just the leaders who might oppose Syria or Hizbullah's dominion. Kill the leaders, and the rest will follow. Other ministers are pointing the finger at Syria as well.

Others blogging: NoisyRoom who notes the familiar refrain, FFDB, Daily Pundit, Decision 08.

UPDATE:
Michael Totten has weighed in on the assassination. I had been waiting to hear what he had to say about the situation since he knows what's going on there better than 99% of those commenting. If the Hizbullah/Syria axis eliminates one more minister, the government of Lebanon falls because it does not have the requisite numbers (2/3 plus one) it needs to be constitutional. The coup d'etat is in progress, and assassinating Gemayel might spur one more minister to abdicate their position, leaving the door open for Syria and/or Hizbullah to benefit.

UPDATE:
There is scattered rioting by Gemayel's supporters against pro-Syrian groups, despite calls for calm by Pierre's father Amir. Mourners outside the Phalange headquarters.

The NYT blog (the Lede) has more. The Lebanese blogger's forum is urging calm. Ace also weighs in.

Gateway Pundit has photos and more.

UPDATE:
Obsidian Wings notes that there was another attempted assassination today. This time it was Michel Pharaon. If he had been killed, the assassins would have successfully executed a coup d'etat and caused the Lebanese government to fall. The remaining ministers are at grave risk, and will continue to be at risk because the assassins remain not only at large, but are motivated to cause the destruction of the Lebanese government. Across the Bay notes that the targeted ministers were part of the March 14 group. The assassins are targeting the Christian members of the government. This isn't a good sign at all.

The Counterterrorism Blog notes that today's events should not come as a surprise as anti-Syrian leaders have come under increasing threat from pro-Syrians for months now. The trend has accelerated since the August war.

Power and Control are wondering whether we're witnessing the opening gambit of a new Lebanese civil war.

Carl in Jerusalem who points out a posting by Iraq the Model that made something click. Syria is showing both the carrot and the stick. They are playing nice with Iraq for the moment, but think that they have the flexibility and the capability to use the stick on Lebanon with impunity.

Others blogging: Blogs of War, Chronicles of War, and Roger L Simon.

Technorati: assassination, lebanon, gemayel, syria, hizbullah.

The Kennedy Kerfuffle Grows

Senator Ted Kennedy has much explaining to do as more is learned about what he was doing in his communications with the Soviets via former Sen. Tunney. It appears that he's willing to undermine both Democrat and Republican administrations (Carter and Reagan) to push his own agenda, which included an attempt at getting elected President himself in 1980.

It is curious that Kennedy would try to unseat a sitting Democrat, Jimmy Carter, in an election, but it becomes even more curious that he would try to curry favor with the Soviets to do so. Kennedy's motivation in 1980 was to secure the release of the hostages in Tehran, a matter in which Carter failed miserably. He sought detente with the Soviets both in 1980 and in 1983, when the Tunney meeting took place.

Outside the Sebastian article and Kengor’s book, there is independent confirmation that Sen. Kennedy made yet another overture to the Soviets. In 2002, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, chaired by former Sen. Lee Hamilton (D-IN) and which can hardly be regarded as a Republican shill, published Working Paper #40. That paper is online at this link, and contains about a dozen references to Sen. Kennedy. On page 167 it refers to Kennedy’s intent to work with the Soviets to free the hostages in Tehran–in order to bolster Kennedy’s prospects against President Jimmy Carter, against whom Kennedy was running for the Democrat nomination for president in 1980. Kennedy was also hoping to work with the Soviet leadership to keep detente on track, even as Carter was castigating the USSR for its invasion of Afghanistan. Working Paper #40 goes into some detail about Kennedy’s efforts against President Carter’s anti-Soviet policies in 1980.

Did Kennedy put his personal power and ambition ahead of that of the nation? Is he continuing to do so now? These are serious questions that deserve further research, and thus far do not reflect well on the Senior Senator from Massachusetts.

The rapport between Kennedy and the Soviets didn't simply begin in 1980, but several years earlier, with Tunney playing the intermediary.

One of the documents, a KGB report to bosses in the Soviet Communist Party Central Committee, revealed that "In 1978, American Sen. Edward Kennedy requested the assistance of the KGB to establish a relationship" between the Soviet apparatus and a firm owned by former Sen. John Tunney (D.-Calif.). KGB recommended that they be permitted to do this because Tunney's firm was already connected with a KGB agent in France named David Karr. This document was found by the knowledgeable Russian journalist Yevgenia Albats and published in Moscow's Izvestia in June 1992.

Another KGB report to their bosses revealed that on March 5, 1980, John Tunney met with the KGB in Moscow on behalf of Sen. Kennedy. Tunney expressed Kennedy's opinion that "nonsense about 'the Soviet military threat' and Soviet ambitions for military expansion in the Persian Gulf . . . was being fueled by [President Jimmy] Carter, [National Security Advisor Zbigniew] Brzezinski, the Pentagon and the military industrial complex."

Kennedy offered to speak out against President Carter on Afghanistan. Shortly thereafter he made public speeches opposing President Carter on this issue. This document was found in KGB archives by Vasiliy Mitrokhin, a courageous KGB officer, who copied documents from the files and then defected to the West. He wrote about this document in a February 2002 paper on Afghanistan that he released through the Cold War International History Project of the Woodrow Wilson Center.

Even at that time, Kennedy ignored the real threats posed by the Soviet Union, as the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and were gearing up their forces in Eastern Europe. And this also further implicates Tunney in the matter, and brings into question where his loyalties lay.

The Red Kennedy

It's amazing what you can find in the old KGB archives now that the old Soviet Union is no more. This particular tidbit is especially interesting, and should make you wonder just what else is sitting in the dusty archives at Lubyanka:

In his book, which came out this week, Kengor focuses on a KGB letter written at the height of the Cold War that shows that Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) offered to assist Soviet leaders in formulating a public relations strategy to counter President Reagan's foreign policy and to complicate his re-election efforts.

The letter, dated May 14, 1983, was sent from the head of the KGB to Yuri Andropov, who was then General Secretary of the Soviet Union's Communist Party.

In his letter, KGB head Viktor Chebrikov offered Andropov his interpretation of Kennedy's offer. Former U.S. Sen. John Tunney (D-Calif.) had traveled to Moscow on behalf of Kennedy to seek out a partnership with Andropov and other Soviet officials, Kengor claims in his book.

At one point after President Reagan left office, Tunney acknowledged that he had played the role of intermediary, not only for Kennedy but for other U.S. senators, Kengor said. Moreover, Tunney told the London Times that he had made 15 separate trips to Moscow.

"There's a lot more to be found here," Kengor told Cybercast News Service. "This was a shocking revelation."

It is not evident with whom Tunney actually met in Moscow. But the letter does say that Sen. Kennedy directed Tunney to reach out to "confidential contacts" so Andropov could be alerted to the senator's proposals.

Specifically, Kennedy proposed that Andropov make a direct appeal to the American people in a series of television interviews that would be organized in August and September of 1983, according to the letter.

"Tunney told his contacts that Kennedy was very troubled about the decline in U.S -Soviet relations under Reagan," Kengor said. "But Kennedy attributed this decline to Reagan, not to the Soviets. In one of the most striking parts of this letter, Kennedy is said to be very impressed with Andropov and other Soviet leaders."

In Kennedy's view, the main reason for the antagonism between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1980s was Reagan's unwillingness to yield on plans to deploy middle-range nuclear missiles in Western Europe, the KGB chief wrote in his letter.

What would Ted's brother John have thought of this? More to the point, where did (and does) Ted Kennedy's loyalties lie? He was hoping on foreign assistance to skew the results of the 1984 Presidential election. That seems, well, unseemly (to be charitable).